Venice

Internet access has been a bit difficult to find as we’ve been meandering south through Switzerland & Northern Italy. We stayed at another good campground just across the border in the Italian Alps on Wednesday night. More stunning views across the valley to villages on the other side, and it was quite a bit cheaper at ‘only’ $35, but we got power as well. Crappy wifi though. That part of Italy grows lots of apples and potatoes, a bit like Tassie.

Then yesterday we headed further south to Venice, through loads of tunnels, even more than when we drove through Norway to Nordkapp. We stopped at a town to try and get some internet access so that we could book a hotel in Venice, but even the ‘free’ wifi at McDonalds was impossible to access, demanding either a mobile number (an Oz number was not acceptable), or a valid credit card, but that didn’t work either. We did finally get some at an Autochef roadside cafe, so we booked some accommodation for a couple of nights. There are plenty of campgrounds here too, but at this time of the year they’re probably charging close to the same price as we’ve paid for the hotel which also includes breakfast.  For the last 120kms or so, we drove on the Autostrada – we took a ticket as we entered, then paid as we left – EU12.7, around $20, which seemed okay. When we drove on motorways in Chile it was costing us up to $25 per day. Only gripe about the Autostrada was that of the 3 traffic lanes, trucks hogged 2 of them most of the time.

We’re staying in the Hotel Ducale in Favaro Veneto, which is about 10kms from St Mark’s Square, to the north on the way to the airport. Last night we wandered around the neighbourhood. A few of the local shops are closed for a couple of weeks …. well it is summer and even shopkeepers probably like to have holidays when the weather is good. We found a pizza place and had dinner there – proscuitto & carciofi artichoke for me, patatas fritas fried potato for Greg.  Um, yes, it was a french fry pizza, but it tasted really good. So did mine, probably the best I’ve ever eaten. We sat and did some people-watching for a while, and looked at all the trophies and awards the pizza-maker had won in various pizza competitions, including one in Las Vegas.

And today we’re heading to Venice, with all the other tourists. We’re leaving it till later in the day, when (hopefully) there won’t be as many because the tour buses and cruise ships have timetables that are more rigid than ours. It doesn’t get dark until around 8.30, so we’ll still have time to have a good look around.

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The Castle above Vaduz
At 2500 metres on a pass in Switzland
At 2500 metres on a pass in Switzerland
Glacier in Switzland
Glacier in Switzerland
Camped at Adamello campground in Italy at 750 metres
Camped at Adamello campground in Italy at 750 metres
Walking the streets in the burbs of Venice (the land side)
Walking the streets in the burbs of Venice (the land side)
Pizza in Venice Italy
Pizza in Venice Italy
Pizza with fries....
Pizza with fries….

Walking with the crowds in Venice
Walking with the crowds in Venice
San Marco square packed with people
San Marco square packed with people
Sitting on the steps next to the water San Marco square
Sitting on the steps next to the water San Marco square

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Pumping the septic tanks in Venice
Pumping the septic tanks in Venice
Floating fruit and veg
Floating fruit and veg

15 thoughts on “Venice

    1. Obviously I haven’t eaten enough pizza in Italy … yet! If we were here longer, I’d ask the owner to take me on as his apprentice for a while.

  1. I can’t say we are pizza eaters(I have in the past made my own)but when in Italy we indulged as they were being made to order and as Derick tells everybody I had a beer with them, my one and only time!!. My excuse, it was very hot and unlike you, are not used to extremes. It gets dark here at 8-30 also . Which to us means autumn is on the way. Enjoy Venice and Marino (glass making island ). Pretty little church on one of the islands which is worth a visit .
    Have fun
    Margaret x

  2. Brings back lovely memories to us . You need to get into a Gondola and sing “Just one cornet” x

  3. Venice never made it there would love to have done so old so beaut-full but as you say always full of people you are in a modern society is your gear not up to date back here in Aussie Land I thought we led the World in tec stuff Have Fun.

    1. Our gear is fine, it’s the Italian govt keeping tabs on who does what on the web. We went to a McD’s in Slovenia today and had no trouble using their free wifi.

    1. ha! And I’ll tell you a little secret … he had the very same thing the next night! I varied mine up slightly and had a Quattro Staggione – 4 seasons!

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